The contact owns a 2001 Lincoln LS. The contact stated while driving 15 MPH, the front suspension ball joint detached. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic; however, it was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 00V359001 (Suspension). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 114,000.
Lincoln LS ball joint problems
228 of the 982 owner complaints about the Lincoln LS describe ball joint or control arm failure, most of them for the 2000 model year.
- owner complaints
- 228
- worst model year
- 2000
- typical repair cost reported
- $1,500
- typical mileage
- 95,000
Is there a fix? There is 1 recall for this area of the car. See below
By model year
Often reported together
Grinding brakes 17Pulling 9Harsh shifting 5Airbag light 5Power windows 4Power steering loss 4Misfire 3Jerking 3
What owners say
We have owned this car for about 3 years and it has been one problem after another and see same problems on line 1) Will start over heating sometimes at idle sometimes while driving (try being in DFW rush hour traffic and deal with that 2) Wife was driving one day and a bolt on right lower control arm broke sending her across 4 lanes of traffic including on coming. 3) All of a sudden when brake pedal was depressed started hearing vacuum leak under dash, brake pedal real hard , and couldn't hardly get car to stop, traction control light started flashing. Found bad brake booster and sensor located on it (both unavailable from manufacturer), also found on line that to get light to stop flashing you have to take to dealer and have reprogrammed (nobody else has the ability) 4) Have constantly had problem with check engine light staying on and running rough, no power, and having to replace ignition coils 5) While wife was driving with no advance notice of any kind heading home on farm market road with no shoulder to pull off on transmission went out completely and stopped pulling 6) Rear control arm bushings go from ok to extremely bad causing back end to drift from side to side going down the highway in a blink of an eye 7) Right front sway bar link keeps wearing control arm and snapping stud off 8) Sunroof drain hoses constantly failing and allowing water to get to electrical components The list goes on but all you have to do is a online search of the LS sport with the 3.9 v-8 and see all the problems. I was in automotive for over 16 years and every vehicle generally has its know couple problems but this is way beyond that. There hasn't been any accidents or injuries but real close to it.
I have a 2002 lincoln LS v8 the passenger ball joint came loose and broke had it fixed driver side has now came loose and rattling
Tl* the contact owns a 2001 lincoln ls. The contact stated while driving 45 MPH, the contact heard an abnormal popping sound coming from underneath the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehcile began to shake back and forth violently which caused the contact to pull the vehicle over to side of the road. The contact had the vehicle towed back to his residence. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact who is a certified mechanic diagnosed the vehicle with a fractured ball joint. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 148,000.
Both driver and passenger side lower ball joints have fractured, been replaced and have fractured again. The stud post itself continues to fracture above the control arm mounting hole, despite both ball joints being replaced and retorqued to manufacturer recommended tightness.
Ball joints, outer tie rod ends and steering section goes bad, doing a lot of popping and creaking.
Ball joint bolts loosen or don't tighten to specifications which causes a lot of wear and tear on the front end of my vehicle. I've had to have them replaced twice and tightened up or re-fixed several times it's unsafe at time. I take chances of my life safety. I mostly have had problems on the regular streets and to afraid at most times to even think about getting on a highway.
I was getting on a freeway on ramp that turned not going more than maybe between 30-35 MPH and when almost getting ready to merg on to the freeway my lower right ball joint broke. Causing my wheel to turn side ways and put a dent in the fender. Later after being repaired I saw there was a recall for this, and contacted a dealership and they told me my car was not part of that recall. But the stuff that is described in the recall seemed to fit exactly what happend to my lincoln ls. I was lucky I was on the on ramp and not driving 65-70mph on the freeway other wise I might not be here to day. The tow truck driver told me he has seen that flip cars. Not only that but I have had nothing but problems with that car since I bought it almost 3 years ago. Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. I have spent somewhere between $10,000 to $20,000 on repairing that car.
2002 lincoln ls , air bag warning light continues to stay on. Have had to drive car for 3 yrs like this while having fear of air bag not working in case of an accident. 3 mechanics have tried to fix and it only turns off for a few min.s after they attempt a fix with the wiring. The mileage then began about 80,007. About 1.5 yr ago (may 2014) my AC /heater core fluid began leaking. It worsened when AC was turned high, took about 2 months before burning smell was continuously coming from engine after running AC and fluid was always dripping. 6 months (jan 2016) ago my brake pedal began fluttering when depressed. I had the control arms, ball joints and brakes/rotors replaced. The brake pedal still flutters when slowing from 30 MPH quickly. My lincoln ls mileage is 86,605
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 lincoln ls. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 45 MPH, the ball joint was loosen causing the contact to loose control of the steering. In addition, the vehicle was overheating. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the lower control arm needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, three months later the failure persisted. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 212,000.
Related recalls
Suspension: front: control arm: lower ball joint
- What is wrong
- Vehicle description: passenger vehicles. The front suspension lower ball joints were not tightened to specifications when they were attached to the lower control arms.
- Risk
- If the ball joint attaching nuts are not adequately tightened, they can loosen and, ultimately, result in fracture of the ball joint stud. If the ball joint fractures, control of the vehicle could be affected, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will inspect the torque on the two ball joint attaching nuts. Vehicles with loose ball joint attaching nuts will either have the fasteners tightened to specification, or if necessary, the ball joints will be replaced.
Recall number 00V359001 · Recall details
Questions about the Lincoln LS ball joint
Which Lincoln LS years have ball joint or control arm failure problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2000 (109 complaints), 2001 (99 complaints) and 2002 (18 complaints).
How much does it cost to fix ball joint or control arm failure on the Lincoln LS?
Owners who mentioned a price put the repair at about $1,500 (median of 22 complaints that include a dollar amount). Costs vary with mileage, warranty and where the work is done.
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